Harvey Pekar | 1939 - 2010
Cheers to you, Harvey, for a lifetime of unflinching, uncompromising, original work. Comics, literature and film have all benefited from your vision.
Another month, another entry in my ongoing tour of the bars, breweries and beer of the great state of Maine. This time around, the focus is on Portland Old Port stalwarts Gritty McDuff’s and Sebago - two of my favorites.
Mainers love their local beer. If there’s anything you can take from this series so far, it’s that the people of Maine - and Portland in particular - are fierce defenders and passionate imbibers of locally brewed beer. For decades (two decades for Gritty’s, one for Sebago), the two breweries I’m looking at today have been staples in local pint glasses and refrigerators. Neither has quite the distribution around the US as an Allagash or a Shipyard, but it’s almost impossible to go to a bar in Maine and not see at least one tap devoted to Sebago and another to Gritty’s. Both also operate stellar brewpubs - bars with some of the best pub fare available in Maine.
Check out the full post (and the four previous entries in my Maine beer tour) over at the RateBeer Hop Press.
Tags: Beer, gritty mcduff's, hop press, Maine, Portland, ratebeer, sebago
Being a beer geek can end up being an expensive hobby. I swear, when I walked to Downeast Beverage, I was just planning on picking up a cheap six-pack to beat the heat - probably Sebago’s Hefeweizen or some Old Scratch Amber. 8 bucks, in and out with some cold beer. But when I saw El Hefe, a “hefewine” from a brewery I’d never heard of, I had to jump on the new and exciting. One ten-dollar bomber later, I was dazed, confused and back in my apartment.
A second look reveals that the “Manly Men Beer Club” isn’t a new Maine brewery. Instead, it’s a line of special beers from the brewers up at Atlantic Brewing in Bar Harbor. Like the Pugsley’s Signature brews from Shipyard or the Sebago Single Batch beers, Manly Men is a chance for the Atlantic brewers to play with wild and wacky beer styles. So far, there are three different brews on the shelf; a barleywine-hefeweizen hybrid (El Hefe), a smoked barleywine (Sea Smoke), and an ale brewed with ginger and molasses (Blackstrapped Molasses Ale). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: atlantic brewing, Barleywine, Beer, Beer Reviews, el hefe, hefeweizen, Maine, manly men beer club, Reviews
There aren’t any woo-woos, appletinis, grey ladies or mojitos in Old Man Drinks. This book has the cocktails that your father grandfather drank. Open to any page, and you’ll find a drink that only has a handful of ingredients - and most of them are liquor. If a Gin and Milk, Boilermaker, or Old Fashioned is your idea of a cocktail, Old Man Drinks is the book for you.
There isn’t too much to review for Old Man Drinks, truth be told - the book is a collection of dozens of old-fashioned recipes. Each of the 70 recipes is accompanied by a brief history of the drink (did you know the Sazerac is the Official Cocktail of New Orleans?), as well as a picture of - and quote from - an old man. As just a recipe book this would more than be worth the cover price, but the character that author Schnakenberg squeezes in is really what makes Old Man Drinks special. The quotes and photos, particularly, are priceless. My favorite? “I never had a threesome, but it’s bound to happen soon” says Fred, a 90-year-old retired janitor. I can only hope I’ll have as optimistic an outlook as Fred in my golden years.
It’s likely that once you know the premise of the book - strong drinks from a simpler time - you’ll already know if you want it or not. If you’re on the fence, I recommend giving the book a shot. Drink like an old man. You might find yourself preferring a Salty Dog to the latest pomegranate, mini-umbrella-ed flavor of the week. Plus, those drinks don’t come with free advice from a genuine old man.
Tags: Books, cocktails, drinking, old man drinks, robert schnakenberg
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